A series of workshops on SME e-Marketing Support for Accommodation providers was held in Papua New Guinea from 19th to 22nd August, attracting SME accommodation operators from Port Moresby and Rabaul. The workshops were facilitated by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO ) with the assistance of the Papua New Guinea Tourism Promotion Authority.
With the technical assistance and support of the World Hotel Listing (WHL), the workshop included specific sessions within the framework of the project targeting the SME accommodation Providers. This capacity building exercise was a continuation of the SME e-Marketing Support pilot project carried out in Kiribati and Fiji where best practices and lessons learnt were taken on board in the expansion project.
The workshops were organised with the main objective of enhancing the e-marketing aspects and capabilities of SME Accommodations through the provision of a booking engine to assist with their online marketing and facilitate their interaction and connection with both local and international tourist source markets. While the workshops provided the participants with an update on the online travel trend globally, they also introduced participants to the latest online e-Marketing tools that they can use to benefit their businesses such as a custom made e-commerce website (free-of-charge and funded by the project).
The workshops were attended by 50 tourism operators and Government Officials from PNG including representatives from East Sepik Provincial Government, Madang Visitors Bureau, Milne Bay Visitors Bureau, Eastern Highland Tourism Office, Western Islands Tourism Bureau, Enga Commerce & Industry Provincial Government and Rabaul hotel owners and tourism stakeholders.
WHL consultant Mr Len Cordiner confirmed that more than 20 SME accommodation operators have registered for this assistance.
Andrew Abel, a Board member of the PNG Tourism Promotion and participant in the workshop, commended SPTO for this recent SME initiative, reaffirming the importance of tourism in PNG "as a growing economic sector that has the potential to create and sustain many thousands jobs and generation of revenue in contributing to the PNG economy and overall GDP".
"I believe it is imperative now that SPTO in partnership with PNG Tourism Promotion Authority and key stakeholders, collectively work together to capitalize on the opportunities available to help empower our existing and new tourism operators", he further commented.
The SPTO and key stakeholders like the PNG TPA were reminded to consider the wishes of the resource owners and people of PNG in the tourism equation, particularly their roles as traditional resource custodian and as host communities.
"They are the gate keepers of our respective niche sector destination tourism attractions and they too must be consulted and included to ensure a sustained and equitable development partnership is created".
The last of the workshops series concluded in Rabaul on Thursday, August 22nd. 2013
For more information please contact the SPTO on 330 4177 or contact Project Activity Coordinator on email tteannaki@spto.org |
